News Buzz

As Georgetown and other D.C. neighborhoods
cleaned up after Hurricane Sandy, dodging
a major hit compared to New Jersey and
New York, flooding along the Potomac River is
the next worry. Especially for Georgetowners,
the riverside complex, Washington Harbour,
is on their minds, as they recall the April 2011
flood there.

The Potomac was predicted to overflow its
banks and flood by late Oct. 30, according to the
National Weather Service. It advised that “residents
and businesses along the Potomac River in
. . . Washington should prepare for a flood not
seen since the floods of 1996.”

Citing Little Falls as a point of reference, the
Weather Service predicted flooding at 10 feet
and continuing to 15 feet in the early hours of
Nov. 1. The waters should recede to nine feet by
Nov. 2, according to the NWS.

The Barber of Georgetown:
Rigo Landa to Retire

Rigo Landa of Georgetown Hairstyling, the
classic, old-school barber shop at 1329 35th St.,
NW, will officially retire Nov. 8. Landa, who
began working at the barber shop in 1968 and
bought it from two brothers who owned and
operated it, has sold it to his stepson Ed Lara,
who previously worked in the airline industry
and also is a guitarist. Rigo, who has traveled all over the world, was born in Cuba and will hold
on to his barber’s license for now — in case Ed
needs an extra day’s work for himself, Veronica
or Nguyen.

Doc’s Georgetown Pharmacy
To Become a 7-Eleven

We know our former publisher Dave Roffman
will not like this news flash one bit.

According to Carol Joynt and CarolJoynt.
com, the retail space once known as the
Georgetown Pharmacy, which closed years ago
to become a clothing store and then an art and
decor store, is set to become a convenience store,
i.e., a 7-Eleven. The closed store is at the corner
of Wisconsin Avenue and O Street.

“My source on this is
next to golden, and so I’m
going with it,” Joynt writes.
“Apparently, the Donohue
family has done a deal to
lease its building at Wisconsin
and O to the 7-Eleven chain.
Work already has begun on
the interior. Everyone seems
to like to look for signs that
Georgetown’s charm is a
thing of the past, and this latest
development will probably
be included on that list, along
with reports of a TJ Maxx,
Target and a bowling alley at
Georgetown Park mall, and the
new mega Nike store on M
Street. But, the times they are a changin’.”

The Georgetown Pharmacy was run and
owned by Harry Alexander “Doc” Dalinksy, who
was a Georgetown institution with customers
that included senators, judges and journalists.
His Sunday brunch, provided by the Georgetown
Inn, was frequented by the likes of Ben Bradlee,
David Brinkley and Art Buchwald, as seen in a
classic Fred Maroon photo.

Comedy Legend Carl Reiner
Gets His Georgetown Degree

Comedian, writer and director Carl Reiner
– who received the Kennedy Center’s Mark
Twain Prize for American Humor in 2000 – was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Oct. 23 at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, Calif. Reiner studied at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service in 1943 after joining the Army during World War II.

“Today, Georgetown University delights to honor the director of ‘The Jerk,’ the father of Meathead and Betty White’s on-screen boyfriend,” the university’s Bernard Cook said. “Actor, writer, producer, wit, Carl Reiner is a renaissance man whose seven-decade career spans the history of television and the maturity of feature film.” Reiner is also known for his creation of the 1960s television series, “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

Reiner says his “biggest triumph” as a comedian was when he impersonated his professors in a Christmas show he was asked to put on in Georgetown’s Gaston Hall, according to the university. “This evening I will never forget,” he told Cook. “There we were – Gaston Hall was packed with soldiers, the balcony was filled with the Jesuit fathers, the priests and the lay teachers.” The comedian even impersonated the stern mannerisms of Rev. Edmund Walsh, S.J., after whom the university’s foreign service school is named.

Reiner recalled his days in D.C. fondly. After all, he also met and married his wife Estelle while in Georgetown. ★